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Faceoffs, entries Flyers' keys to improved power play

VOORHEES, N.J. -- The Flyers' power play, so dominant in the first round, has been firing blanks in the first two games in the second round against the New Jersey Devils.

They went 0-for-5 in their 4-1 loss in Game 2, with just one shot on goal. In two games, they're just 1-for-11.

One reason given for the struggles was problems in the faceoff circle. In Game 2, Claude Giroux went just 1-5 on power-play draws, and Danny Briere went 0-3. Losing faceoffs means losing possession, but lost faceoffs on power plays results in extra time draining off the clock and wasted opportunities.

"Obviously the power play starts with the faceoff," Giroux said. "I wasn't able to do that last game. We did a lot of bad things last game."

Another reason was the Devils varying the way they attacked the Flyers' extra-man units.

"There's times when they're aggressive and then there's times when they're passive," coach Peter Laviolette said. "We did have possession and we didn't find shooting lanes, but they did back off at times when we did have possession. So they mix it up a bit."

Scott Hartnell said the best way to counter that is to change the way they bring the puck into the zone.

"I think they're up-ice when we're trying to break in, kind of giving us some grief, we have to put it on the wall and they attack us with three guys coming on you," he said, "And it's on me, it's on [Claude] Giroux and they take away Kimmo [Timonen], and that's the side we want to set up on. We're going to have to do a better job of entries, setting the puck up. When we had a set-up moving around, they gave us time to make plays. It's that initial break-in. We have to get things set up and get it up top and get pucks on net."

Contact Adam Kimelman at akimelman@nhl.com. Follow him on Twitter: @NHLAdamK

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